Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB is ELCO Management Co. LLC's 3rd Largest Position

Key Points

• ELCO Management Co. LLC cut its Williams Companies stake by 28.1% in the fourth quarter, but WMB still ranks as its 3rd largest holding and makes up about 5% of the portfolio.
• Williams Companies reported Q1 earnings of $0.73 per share, beating analyst estimates of $0.63, though revenue of $3.03 billion came in below expectations.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish on the stock, with a consensus Buy rating and average price target of $80.27; the company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share payable June 29.

ELCO Management Co. LLC reduced its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 28.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 131,064 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 51,111 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies makes up approximately 5.0% of ELCO Management Co. LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. ELCO Management Co. LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $7,878,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 5.5% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.1% during the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 568,928 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $35,734,000 after purchasing an additional 11,926 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.0% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 160.1% during the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 165,035 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $10,366,000 after purchasing an additional 101,574 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on WMB shares. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $80.27.

Williams Companies Stock Up 3.1%

NYSE:WMB opened at $74.16 on Tuesday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.82 and a 1-year high of $77.41. The company has a 50-day moving average of $73.16 and a 200 day moving average of $66.30. The firm has a market cap of $90.60 billion, a PE ratio of 32.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The company had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies's payout ratio is currently 92.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $547,807.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 26,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,938,231.45. The trade was a 22.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total transaction of $1,968,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 293,159 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,377,154.28. This represents a 8.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 103,369 shares of company stock valued at $7,700,932 in the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Williams Companies

Williams Companies, Inc NYSE: WMB is a U.S.-based energy infrastructure company focused on the midstream segment of the natural gas value chain. The company develops, owns and operates assets that gather, process, transport and store natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). Its operations support the movement of gas from production areas to end users including utilities, power generators, industrial customers and export facilities.

Williams’s product and service offering includes interstate and intrastate pipeline transmission, gas-gathering systems, processing facilities that remove impurities and separate NGLs, storage services and fractionation and transportation of NGL products.

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